Center for Advanced Visual Studies
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The Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT was founded in 1967 by artist and teacher Gyorgy Kepes. Kepes, who taught at the new Bauhaus in Chicago, originally founded the Center as a way to encourage artistic collaboration on a large civic scale.
Some of the Center's fellows have included such notable artists as Otto Piene, Vassilakis Takis, Jack Burnham, Stan VanDerBeek, Maryanne Amacher, Joan Brigham, Lowry Burgess, Peter Campus, Muriel Cooper, Douglas Davis, Charlotte Moorman, Antoni Muntadas, Yvonne Rainer, Piotr Kowalski, Alan Sonfist, Aldo Tambellini, Joe Davis, Bill Seaman, Don Ritter, and Luc Courchesne.
In 1974, Otto Piene succeeded Kepes as the director of the Center. Piene retired in 1994 and the Center was taken over by Krzysztof Wodiczko, who, after a hiatus, presently continues as director.
In 2004, Wodiczko brought on board a new staff including Associate Director Larissa Harris, Meg Rotzel and Joe Zane. Since then, the Center has begun a revitalization program which includes numerous site visits by notable artists, long-term residencies, and the commissioning of new artistic projects. Some of the recent visitors has included Marjetica Potrc, Miranda July, Vito Acconci, Simon Starling, Harrell Fletcher, John Malpede, David Robbins, Fritz Haeg, Ann Craven and Mel Chin.
